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NASB | Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
Bible Question: I have been struggling with the understanding of why the payment for sin must be death (seperation of..) I understand that Eve chose to go against the commands of God and therefore she and her husband died like god had told them..."You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Gen 2:16 NIV I understand they were "seperated from" god aka: death. Then God took skins from an animal to cover their sin....the first known sacrafice. From that point on, man was required to sacrafice every time he sinned. This seems so violent (the old testament seems to portray God as being violent, jealous, and the opposite of what he is portrayed as being in the new testament...full of love and forgiveness.) I am confused and a new reader of the bible. I have read misc scriptures but have not read the entire bible. Im trying to understand the "why's" and I am just struggling with the way the old testament seems to contradict the new one. Please help me understand why God seems so violent and "mean" in the old testament, and requires man to kill innocent animals in order to be forgiven by him. Why did God sacrafice himself (jesus) when he is all knowing and could have changed things. For example, God hardened pharoe's heart when moses warned him to let his people go, why didnt he "soften" his heart instead? I just dont understand. Please help! Thank You, Tara Knezevich |
Bible Answer: Tara, when the heavens and earth were made, they were made with certain rules. a such rule would be the rule of gravity. though i'm sure the law of gravity is much deeper scientifically, we'll just go with the basic meaning that objects are drawn towards the center of an object (such as: water and people are drawn towards the center of the earth. Also, how planets are drawn towards the sun). so, knowing this law of gravity exists, we see how the water collects at the lowest points on the earth... it fills the oceans, rivers, lakes, etc. without this law, the functioning of the earth would not work... at least not in the way that it does... but yet, even though this law exists, God reached down and "interjected" between the waters of the Red Sea to allow His people to walk safely through, and then allowed the waters to come in on the enemies of His people. the law of sin functions much the same... it was founded at the beginning of Creation and states that if we sin, we shall die (Gen 2:16). luckily, similar to Moses's situation, God "interjected" through His Son Jesus so that we could pass safely through, but allows the law of sin to take effect on those who have rejected Him. The law of sin is noticeable and has been called karma by many other pagan religions... but it goes much further than just a physical and earthly punishment... it's the eternal punishment that we all deserve but which God has given us grace to avoid. Also, God has not changed at all from the Old and New Testaments (Mal 3:6)... our standing before Him has. before the sacrifice of jesus we had no right to even call on His name... but now, because of Jesus, we can enter boldly into His presence (Heb 4:16). In the Old testament, we were seen by God as the sinful creatures that we are... but as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, we are new creations... When we accept the sacrifice of Jesus we are clothed in Him (Gal 3:27)... covered in Him (Rom 4:7)... we are now seen as Him... as perfect, righteous, and without blemish (Eph 5:27)... that is why God seems different... because of our standing before Him. Praise be to Jesus! Doug |